


the quest of a flightless bird

by Jaybird_Wings



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Fae & Fairies, Fantasy, Gen, Identity Reveal, Parent Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Pirates, Secret Identity, Sleepy Bois Inc as Family, Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit Friendship, Traveling, dream team, honestly this is an excuse to have fun world building but shhh, this is some high fantasy here like think stardust levels of fantasy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:40:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28024098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaybird_Wings/pseuds/Jaybird_Wings
Summary: Tommy is the youngest prince of the antarctic empire. At a young age, his older brother Techno goes missing.The kingdom mourns and moves on.Years later, Wilbur goes missing, too, but there is a clue left behind. He was kidnapped by something, but Philza won’t let Tommy leave.So, Tommy runs away.Wilbur seems to have been kidnapped by Endermen, so he just needs to get to the End Realm and appeal to the fairy court to release his brother.Not too hard, right?
Comments: 6
Kudos: 63





	1. Prologue

It was a rainy morning the day Techno went missing.

Tommy woke up to a dark sky and rain hitting his bedroom window. The world was still asleep but... something had woken him up.

He remembers the sole cry of a mourning dove, his bare feet on the cold tile as he slipped out of bed, and walking out of his room to see his father crying.

There was no sunlight, grey clouds had shrouded everything in shadow. But there was soft torchlight bounced off Phil’s slumped figure at the doorframe of his older brother’s room.  
Though he did not yet understand what was going on, Tommy felt his eyes start to burn at the sight. His father was the strongest man he knew, his father could do anything, so it didn’t make sense. What could make him cry?

And his father had noticed his youngest awake hours before the sunrise. He stifled a sob and beckoned his son to him.

Tommy stumbled over, still tired and sad. Phil took him up in his arms and started to walk (Tommy had been much smaller and Philza much younger.)

The king carried the young prince to the next room over, where Wilbur still slept soundly.

“Where’s Techno?” He finally asked.

He’d been too scared to. The last time he asked, his father had told him Techno had gone to fight in the war. However worried Phil had looked then, it was tenfold this time.

“Gone,” Phil responded.

He tucked Tommy into bed, and Wilbur stirred.

Phil then said, “If anything happens while I’m gone, you take care of Tommy.”

The eldest prince nodded before dozing off again. The strange air of the morning had not gotten to him, and it would be hours before he’d fully understand what had happened in the early hours of the morning.

The second Prince of the Antarctic Empire had gone missing, nothing missing from his room but his sword.

Tommy’s family had never been the same since.

What was so deceptive was, the day had been so normal before Techno disappeared. He had come home, victorious from war. He spoke with Phil about plans for the future, teased Tommy, and sparred with Wilbur. Dinner had been so lively and then suddenly Techno was gone. No sign of a fight or break-in, but no signs of him simply running away.

And Phil never explained a thing. The years passed and Tommy never found out where Phil went that night or what he learned. Though they sent out search parties and investigated for months, his father called it all off so quickly. Surely Phil knew something, but he never confined to Tommy about it.

Wilbur was devastated for a long time. He’d sit alone in his room, quietly strumming at his guitar. Tommy avoided all the places that reminded him of his older brother, often escaping the castle and messing around with the kids on the streets. He’d come back home messy and a little beat up, but Phil never scolded him for it.

None of them talked to each other, even if it was clear they were all suffering. It’s just how their family did things, and Techno’s disappearance almost tore them apart.

But Philza continues to rule, Wilbur starts hanging out with other nobles, and Tommy learns tricks from the kids he’s befriended. Time moves forward, and they push to the back of their minds that there is an empty spot at the dinner table.

Wilbur comes home late one night after a ball that Tommy had skipped.

He had promised to go, but some little bastard had picked a fight with him and his eye was yellow-green and swollen. His split lip stung as he returned his older brother's frown.

He promised to go to an important event and skipped, so surely everyone was going to be mad with him in the morning.

But Wilbur silently wrapped up an ice pack for Tommy's bruised eye and walked him back to his bedroom.

Even if the next morning Phil reprimanded him, the pain didn't sting as badly.

He foolishly thinks that maybe they’ll heal and all be happy once more. When he hears Wilbur’s genuine laugh again, and as Phil messes up Tommy’s hair. They spend the fall harvest festival enjoying the lights, the feast the festivities.

Of course, that's when history repeats itself.

It was still the middle of the night this time, but all the lanterns lit up the palace. Tommy had been awake for hours, the energy of the day lingering past midnight. He was coming home after learning from some of his friends how to bypass the cons of the festival booths.

He's now bigger and stronger and knows how to throw a punch back. Not many kids pick on him anymore.

Now, walking down marbled halls, there sat a heavy silence.

Why wasn’t Wilbur playing his stupid guitar like he had been all day? Surely if Tommy was still awake, then he was as well. Their family was one made out of night owls, except for Techno who just never seemed to sleep.

Phil was at Wilbur’s door frame, frozen. The uncanniness of the scene made his limbs feel heavy, fear cementing his feet to the ground.

“Dad?” He asked.

What he really was asking was, where is Wilbur?

Phil’s eye’s met his, and they were bloodshot.

“Not- not again. Not tonight. No, he must be out with friends, he’s always being chummy with the other nobles like you want me to. Or maybe he snuck out to a bar again to get super drunk, you know he does that behind your back. He could be serenading girls at the town square like the prick he is.”

His ramblings die in his throat when he looks into his older brother’s room.

First was the smell of ozone. Then the lingering purple glow of magic. And finally, WIibur's guitar still sat in its case.

“They stole him away.” Phil murmured.

“That’s just a peasant folktale to keep kids from wandering around at night- you told me that yourself.”

Phil looked up and responded, “I lied to you.”

The stories commoners whisper goes like this:

Sometimes your baby suddenly acted strange, acted different. After a storm when the rain has cleared, the smell of ozone remained and the air around the crib still buzzes with magic.

It meant the fairies had stolen your baby and switched it out with another fairy. Changelings, that's what they were. Endermen, the fairies’ henchmen, would grab children and take them to The End, the realm of the fairies.

Those stories had scared Tommy as a kid, so much he refused to sleep alone, lest he be taken as well.

His family had told him that they were fake, he was okay, just go back to sleep Toms.

“How do we get him back?” He asks, stepping forward.

Phil closes the bedroom door and sighs.

“We can’t.”

The kingdom mourns another son. Another prince.

They don't hold a funeral for Wilbur, just as Techno didn't. But his father wears all black.

There are already whispers that Tommy isn’t ready to take up the mantle of heir.

He never thought he’d be in such a position to be the next king. Techno seemed so invincible that even Wilbur was relaxed as a kid, his studies picking up after Techno’s disappearance. But then Wilbur was more charismatic and knowledgeable compared to Tommy, and he himself never wanted such responsibility.

Tommy didn’t know how to bite his tongue, he didn’t know how to negotiate a trades deal or war treaty. He wasn’t well known or well liked by the general noble community, known as the loud and annoying prince.

But that never bothered him before.  
Now the nobles glare at him with disdain as they say they're sorry for his loss.  
He's too tired to tell them Wilbur isn't dead and that he's a fucking prince, give a little respect.

Phil is too tired to tell him his usual spiel about smiling more so people stop calling him an imp.

Tommy barges into Phil's study and says, “We have to try to find him.”

“I’ve sent out as many search parties as I can, Tommy.”

“But I know you don’t think we can find him. You won’t tell anybody who he was really taken by. This is- this is you just trying to save face.”

Tommy stills. Phil looks up for his book, tension pulling his shoulders taut.

“How, pray tell, are we going to challenge a force we don’t even understand. Most people believe endermen to be a myth and nobody even knows how to track them down even if they did believe.”

Tommy grits his teeth, “You did this with Techno, did they take him as well?”

“Don’t bring your other brother into this. And for the record, no. I don’t know what happened to him.”

“There it is again! You lie to me because you think I’m too young to handle this but this is our family we’re talking about. Don’t you care?”

“Yes! I care that you’re only sixteen and the last son I have left, and I can’t lose you too. So you’re going to listen to me, just this once, and trust me when I say there’s nothing we can do. So just stop, please.”

“You’re being stupid. You’re being ridiculous.”

“And you’re being unreasonable. Let the adults handle things from here." Phil slams his book into the table and escorts Tommy out of the room.

The door slams shut behind him.

It’s the worst argument they’ve ever had. He's left feeling like screaming, crying, and breaking something.

Their family is a splintered one. He barely understood them at times, and to an outsider it just didn’t make sense.

But it never mattered, because at the end of the day, they got through things together.

Maybe he should have told Phil that. That he really did understand why his father did the things he did, as strange as they were and how confused it made him. He was trying to keep so many different people together in harmony. He was trying to be a good dad without really knowing how to, to three boys all alone.

He wasn’t really angry at his dad, even though he yelled. He understood that he can’t stand the thought of Phil disappearing and being alone, and his father just felt the same.

But all Tommy writes in his letter before he runs away is this:

If you’re not going to find Wilbur, then I am.

Because, when Techno disappeared there were no hints. No clues. No signs.  
But he’s got something here to follow, and he’s not letting the trail go cold. He’s going to hold tight to this and not let go until it’s pulled from his hands.

He’s been running away from the castle since he was a kid. But this time he’s packed a traveling bag that sits heavy behind him as he walks away from his home.

He'll be back soon. 


	2. Heist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the adventure starts! 
> 
> My update schedule is very tentatively going to be once a month, and hopefully this will be nine chapters but I'm not sure yet so kajsjdhak. Enjoy!

The first time Tommy slipped past the guards to the palace, the street kids bullied him and he came back home bruised and angry. His teachers scolded him for skipping lessons, but Phil didn’t say a word to him. 

Just frowned in the way that he wished he’d been yelled at instead. 

The kids earlier had made fun of his hair, as it was prettier than theirs. He had years of proper showers and personal barbers to thank for that, and it made him embarrassed. He yelled at all of them and nobody would tell him the street gossip for years. He wasn’t “privy to it” or whatever. 

That was the same week Techno went missing. 

He was angry at everything during that time (All those broken wooden swords in the training room..)

  
  


But now he knows how to not look like a noble. He pulled his hat further down on his head, and messed with the sleeves of the torn coat he’s using for his disguise. 

He walks with his head down and his feet fast, and he blends right in with the bustle of the city.

He’s never left the city, though, no matter how rebellious he got. Undeniably, he’s lived a cushy life in the castle. His limited talents were being a worse fighter than Techno and being dumber than Wilbur. And of course, his ability to annoy everyone in his vicinity. 

  
  


He passes by a dingy apple stand, and the owner of it sends Tommy a cautious glare before returning to talking with his customer. He spots a missing poster for Wilbur, and solidifies his resolve. 

Wilbur was the most annoying shit he’s ever met, and he was his brother. Of course he’s going to go find him. 

  
  


It’s deceptively easy to leave, too. Every imagined scenario- where the guards recognize him, his father comes running, or even one of his teachers jumping out and scolding him- don’t come to pass. 

He scuffles by, and the city continues to go on without him there. 

The pale bricks of the walls he’s seen all of his life are finally disappearing as he leaves. He looks around and no longer do they sit at the horizon of every direction. 

And suddenly he’s running, laughing in disbelief. He’s out. He’s really out!

He’s out and once the servants realize he’s gone they’re going to assume he’s on his normal escapades out in the city. Once evening hits and he’s not back, they’re probably going to assume he’s just running later than usual, even if doesn’t like the city at night. They’ll probably deem it important enough to tell his dad about his missing status, and then he’ll check Tommy’s room. 

He had checked his brother’s rooms right after they disappeared as well. 

And so Phil will find his message. He had quickly scrawled a message written in a moment of determination and anger. And the kingdom that started with three princes will be void of any. 

Just for the moment. Just until Tommy returns with Wilbur. 

  
  


Tommy’s adrenaline rush from running away lasts him only until he realizes he doesn’t know where he’s going. Never leaving the castle and skipping classes meant he didn’t know much about the surrounding cities. 

Sweat trickles down his back, and he doesn’t know when or where he’ll take his next bath. 

The thing about wandering the city outside the castle, was that it was so temporary. He knew he’d always come home to comfort and certainty. 

  
  


...So he should make a list! Lists always helped. 

Main objective: Find Wilbur and bring him home. 

How to do that: …

Well, this is what he already knew: Endermen had spirited his brother away. While he wasn’t one to enjoy fairytales, commoners enjoyed telling stories of The End. 

He didn’t know much, and didn’t know how much of it was even true. But it was fabled to be a place without sunlight where ghastly, winged creatures were guarded by a dragon. They lived in a sophisticated court and apparently liked taking humans away. 

They took talented people, those who could paint, or dance. 

Or sing. 

So he definitely knows… The End is a place. It’s place at the very least, accessible through however endermen traveled. 

All of this thinking was hurting Tommy’s head. He groaned. Maybe he should… find a library or some shit. People went there to learn things right? 

But that was so much reading. He’d have to figure out something easier. Like bothering people about it. He was very good at bothering people. 

  
  


The longer he’s walking the more he regrets not preparing more. But Phil would’ve noticed, and he wanted to leave as soon as possible. 

So, next on the list: Acquire weapons. 

He was going to go The End, he definitely was going to need weapons. To beat up fairies and shit. 

And the best place to get weapons would be at a blacksmith or something, right? So, he needs to find a village. Easy enough. Sure. Yeah. 

But he didn’t have any money on him. 

So he’ll steal! He’s great at stealing things. No problem. Simple. solution. 

  
  


… Maybe also a map, jeez, it was almost already sundown and he hasn’t reached the next down. He was following the main road, worn from years of travel, so it had to lead somewhere. 

Or maybe it didn’t. And he was going to die in the woods alone and without any weapons and this was kinda dumb wasn’t it-

He was tough. He’s spared with Techno. Shut up. 

  
  


When the silhouette of a small town appears on the horizon, he hollers out in joy. He just needed weapons. And a map. And maybe also food, so he doesn’t starve. 

Nobody pays attention to kids on the street, makes them feel guilty or whatever. He just knows as he enters town that he can slip around without much fanfare.

He asks around about a blacksmith, and eventually finds out there isn’t one. But that’s okay, that’s okay. So there wasn’t some dumb blacksmith, but he could just steal from someone else. Tommy was always planning on stealing, no big deal. 

He still picks pockets and secures a night at an inn. He doesn’t want to stick around too long, and he’s resigned to the fact he’s going to have to sleep outside at some point, but it’s his first night he’s spending away from home. It’s okay to want to spend it in a bed.

He’ll have to add a flint and steel to the list. So he doesn’t freeze. 

  
  
  


“Did you hear the third prince is missing?” He hear after he leaves the inn the next morning. 

The question wasn’t even directed to him, just two women carrying baskets of bread. Shit. Shit shit shit word has already gotten out he’s run away? 

“Excuse me?” He interrupts, trying to look as unassuming as possible. 

They both turn to him.

“I was just wondering, who has the best weapons in this town? Because it’s, uh, small? And I was, um, wondering- just curious how it was protected.” He asks.

Damn he was such a great liar. 

“Uh, well most knights are from the capital because of how close we are. But even then it’s mostly iron weapons.” One lady answers.

The other scoffs, “Yeah, Lord Schlatt is up in his villa hoarding enchanted weapons. But does he even use them? No.” 

His brain lights up. Enchanted weapons?

“Nobles suck, huh?” He quips with genuine annoyance. He’s had his fair share of nobles being dicks to him just because he was adopted. 

The two women nod, and continue small talk. Ask where his parents are, why was he there, and so on. He goes off about some lie that they were still at the inn, that they were visiting family. At the end of the day, people don’t suspect you if you’re confident. And Tommy has enough confidence to fuel a hundred soldiers. Eventually he slips away and the two fontinue with their day. 

Okay, new plan. 

Schlatt- the name doesn’t sound familiar, but honestly he’s not good with memorizing names. He’s gonna rob Schlatt. He’s so brilliant, why try to do things on his own when he could steal someone else’s stuff. The man isn’t using them apparently, so he can probably get away with the crime real easily. 

  
  


He waits for nightfall. Best to do things in the dark, eh?

Tommy was trained by the best warriors in the kingdom, and he easily sneaks past the knights and scales the walls to the villa. 

Inside the castle is huge and dark, the torches put out for the night. It’s nothing like the palace, with huge portraits of this supposed Schlatt guy all over the place. 

He walks around, the place suspiciously empty. But he’s not complaining. 

The villa, while being almost gaudier than the palace, was also much smaller. The basement, where he assumed anyone would keep badass enchanted weapons, was instead filled with barrels and bottles of wine. The main building itself was only two stories, and of course what he’s looking for ends up being in the last room on the top floor. 

He shuffles quietly pass the room where he hears loud snoring, and looks down the hall.

Soft light is flooding out of the room, the door wide open. That sets alarms off in his head. He peaks in, not sure what to expect, and sees a small, brunette figure grabbing a glowing sword. 

There’s a person here. Who is apparently… also robbing Schlatt. It seems so odd, or maybe lots of people try stealing from the dude. He seems to be a real dickhead, from what he’s heard from the townspeople. 

It feels… serendipitous. Wilbur taught him that word, before he went missing. Winter was over, but a freak snow storm had blocked the roads and a conference had been postponed. Wilbur had called it a serendipitous event. 

  
  


He missed having him around to teach him big, stupid words. 

The days he lost his brothers were both so mundane. Tommy was just living his life, eating, training, learning, and messing around. 

Tragedy should come on somber rainy days, right? With crows crying out and men dressed all in black with shoes that were too shiny. 

But there was no such grace, not even in his oldest memories. Before being taken in by Phil, he remembers loss coming on the most normal of days. 

But the thing was, gaining someone was the same. Loss was around any corner- that he has learned. But in the same way, you never knew who you met would become integral to who you are and who you will become. 

The brunette is smaller than him, shoulders caved in and radiating nervousness. 

This, Tommy passes off, will be an insignificant meeting. 

  
  


“Whatcha doing?” He asks. 

The stranger startles, turning around to face Tommy.

He wrings his hands together, and stutters out, “Jus-I’m just looking. Inspecting! Inspecting at, uh, the weapons!” 

“Inspecting, huh?” He asks, crossing his arms. 

“Mhm.” 

“Looks an awful lot like stealing to me.” 

“Well you see-”

“And you’re in luck. Because I’m robbing Schlatt too.” Tommy interrupts, letting a smirk take over his face. 

Tommy wasn’t a team player, but he was good at quick alliances when it was convenient. It’s why in all the years he’s been alive he hasn’t befriended one noble or street kid, but never quite punished for it. 

His father always said he had a way of rallying people together. Wilbur always said he was too annoying for anyone to actually listen to him. 

Tommy goes for the glowing axe, and packs away the golden apples he finds in a chest. He takes anything that looks half useful. 

“Wha- you can’t just take his stuff!” The other whispers to him.

“Why? Because it’s wrong? You’re also stealing.” He says while pocketing away some coins he found. 

“But Schlatt was- okay. Okay. This is happening. I just needed a sword that could protect me, I wasn’t planning on taking anything else.”

“More for me then!” 

Neither were going to risk causing a commotion, and soon Tommy closes up his now full bag and starts leaving. 

In some sort of robber's camaraderie, the kid follows him out, both keeping a lookout for any guards. 

They slip past the gate as the knight there was dozing off, and they almost make it out. But then someone behind them yells, “Thieves!”

Instinctually, he grabs the other’s hand and starts making a dash for the woods. 

“Go, go, go!” He shouts and laughs. 

This reminds him of when he would try outrunning the knights at the capital. But the roads were too open, and they could easily follow him alleyway through alleyway. But here, in the dark of night and thick of trees, they lose their pursuers fast. 

He laughs again and the rush of adrenaline. He hasn’t had that much fun since-

  
  
  


“So who are you?” He asks, looking over to his partner in crime. 

The other is out of breath, but pants out, “I’m… Tubbo.”

“Tubbo? That’s not a real name.” He jeers. He looks back to his bag to make sure it didn’t open up and throw up it’s contents. 

“Well then, what’s yours?” Tubbo huffs.

“Tommy!” 

It’s a common enough name, right? Nobody would meet him and think ‘yeah, that’s a prince for sure.’ 

“That’s not a name either.”

“Duh, it’s a nickname. It’s way cooler.” He answers, checking out the axe next. 

There’s enchantment script on it, but Techno understood enchantment better than he ever did. He’s pretty sure it’s equipped with at least sharpness and unbreaking. 

He looks up to Tubbo and asks, “Where are you planning on going?”

“I’m not quite sure, actually. I’ve never been… to this part of the world before.” He looks out to the woods, probably checking if they were followed. 

“Me neither. But I’m trying to, uh-” He stutters, “find more out about The End.”

Most people don’t believe The End is a real place. And something in him doesn’t want Tubbo to think he’s crazy. 

“The End?” Tubbo yelped, eyes widening. 

“Yup.” He answers with feign casualness, popping the ‘p.’ 

“I know- I know a ton about The End.” Tubbo responds. 

Something writhes in his chest. He was planning to do this alone, he should do this alone. 

“Well, if you’ve got no plans on where to travel, then why don’t we travel together? Two is better than one, yeah?” He offers out a hand.

He could still do this alone. This was simple diplomacy. Tubbo could tell him what he needs to know, they’ll split up, and he’ll be the hero to go save his brother and bring him home. Phil scolds him but congratulates him and happily ever after, the end.

“Sure!” Tubbo reaches out to shake in agreement. 

He’s made a ton of deals in the past with kids who ended up meaning nothing to him. Trade loaves of bread to find out the best secret passages in the city, trade a book to find out the knight’s patrolling schedule, trade his nice snow boots to find out which bars will let kids buy a cup of beer. 

But something about the way Tubbo smiles makes him feel comfortable for the first time he’s been out in the world. Alone. 

  
  


Well, not alone anymore. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!! If you want to scream about mcyt with me my tumblr is https://peachy-n-bee.tumblr.com


End file.
